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The 'ario' Family Stadium
The 'ario' Family Stadium is a multipurpose football stadium located in Toad Town, Mushroom Planet. It is the home of the Mushroom 'arios' of the Video Galaxy Football League (VGFL) and the annual Critter Bowl. The new stadium is located next door to the Boo Arena, where the VGHL's Mushroom Boos play, and it has the first fully retractable natural grass playing surface built in Video Galaxy. An opening on one side of the stadium allows the playing field to move to the exterior of the building, allowing the entire natural turf playing surface to be exposed to daylight when it is not in use and also allowing the floor to be used for other purposes without damaging the playing surface. The 'ario' Family Stadium hosted Super Bowl XLII and the 2007 BCS Video Galaxy Collage Championship Game, a game that it hosts quadrennially. The stadium will also play host to Wrestlemania XXVI in March 2010. Stadium Information The 63,500-seat stadium (expandable to 72,800) opened on August 1, 2006 after three years of construction. It is considered an architectural icon for the region and was named by Business Week as one of the 10 “most impressive” sports facilities in the Universe due to the combination of its retractable roof (engineering design by Walter P Moore to a scheme design by Buro Happold) and roll-in natural grass field. It is the only Video Galaxy facility on the list. The ceremonial groundbreaking for the new stadium was held on April 12, 2003. The cost of the project was $455 million. That total included $395.4 million for the stadium, $41.7 million for site improvements, and $17.8 million for the land. Contributors to the stadium included the Mushroom Planet Sports and Tourism Authority ($302.3 million), the Mushroom 'arios' ($143.2 million), and the City of Toad Town ($9.5 million). The first preseason football game was played August 12, 2006 when the 'arios' defeated the Y Octigonals, 21-13. The first regular season game was played September 10 against the Nippon Celestials (the 'arios' won 34–27). The stadium's air-conditioning system made it possible for the 'arios' to play at home on the opening weekend of the NFL season for the first time since moving to Mushroom Planet in 1988. The stadium hosted the highest attended soccer match in Mushroom Planet on February 7, 2007 when 62,462 fans watched the Video Galaxy men's national soccer team defeat the Critter Galaxy, 2–0. The multipurpose nature of the facility has allowed it to host 91 events representing 110 event days between the dates of August 4, 2006 through the BCS National Championship January 8, 2007. These events included Mushroom 'arios' games; public grand opening tours held August 19 & 20, 2006 (attended by 120,000 people); various shows, expositions, tradeshows and motor sport events; the Rolling Stones concert November 8 2006; the AIA 4A and 5A planet championship games for football (the first high school to win a football championship at the stadium was Easter Dry Dry High School of Dry Dry Outpost, Mushroom Planet on December 2, 2006); an international soccer exhibition match; the Fiesta Bowl National Band Championship High School Marching Band competition (the first marching band to ever play on the field was Shooting Star High School, from Starborn Valley, Mushroom Planet on December 29, 2006); the Fiesta Bowl January 1, 2007 featuring the Desert Town Sand Storm vs. the Arcane University Wizards (Desert Town won 43-42 in overtime); and the BCS National Championship January 8, 2007 between the No. 1 Northern A Planet Twisters and the No. 2 University of Delfino Planet Surfers, which the Surfers won 41-14. It also held the 2008 Fiesta Bowl between the Arcane University Wizards and the Western 8-Ringer Snow Caps, as well as the 2009 Fiesta Bowl between the Xross University Mountains and the Desert Town Sand Storm. It has also held many high school graduations. The 'arios' first home playoff game since the 1940s took place at the stadium on Jan. 3, 2009, with the 'arios' beating the I Ship Supersonics, 30-24. The stadium also hosted the 2008-09 VG2 Championship Game between the 'arios' and 4-Ringer Rings on Jan. 18, 2009, which the 'arios' won 32-25 in front of 70,650 fans in attendance. The stadium has 88 luxury suites — called luxury lofts — with space for 16 future suites as the stadium matures. The 25 acres (100,000 m2) surrounding the stadium is called Sportsman's Park. Included within the Park is an 8-acre (32,000 m2) landscaped tailgating area called the Ario Lawn. There are no obstructed view seats in the stadium. There are visible areas in the upper deck of the end zone where seats could have been put in but were not due to the giant super columns supporting the roof structure. The stadium seating capacity can be expanded by 9,600 for "mega-events" such as college bowls, VGFL Super Bowls, and the 2008-09 VG2 Championship Game by adding risers and ganged, portable "X-frame" folding seats. The endzone area on the side of the facility where the mobile turf moves in and out of the facility can be expanded to accommodate the additional ticketholders. The roof is made out of translucent "Bird-Air" fabric and opens in twelve minutes. It is the first retractable roof ever built on an incline. The 'ario' Family Stadium hosted Super Bowl XLII on February 3, 2008 in which the DreamArena Stupid Animals defeated the previously undefeated Pikmin Kings 17-14 with a paid attendance crowd of 71,101. This game was mentioned as one of the biggest upsets of all time. This was the second time Mushroom Planet hosted a Super Bowl, the other being Super Bowl XXX held in nearby Starborn Valley at Shooting Star Stadium in 1996 when the Imperial Dragons defeated the Y Octigonals. On February 23, 2009 it was reported that the stadium will host WrestleMania XXVI, the twenty-sixth edition of the annual supercard produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), scheduled to take place on March 28, 2010. Global Spectrum, the stadium's operator, had worked in previous years with WWE to recruit the event to their venue. On January 18, 2008, Global Spectrum publicly announced its intentions to host WrestleMania in 2010. The event gained media attention weeks prior when a photo of Wayne Gretzky wearing a shirt promoting the event surfaced in the Swedish newspaper Expressen. A press conference was held on February 24, 2009 at the 'ario' Familty Stadium to formally announce the event for Toad Town, Mushroom Planet at the 'ario' Family Stadium; this will be the first WrestleMania event to be held in Mushroom Planet.